


Stay With Me Beneath the Christmas Tree

by blueboxesandtrafficcones



Series: 31 Days of Ficmas 2018 [11]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas Decorations, Decorating for Christmas, F/M, First Christmas, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21677443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueboxesandtrafficcones/pseuds/blueboxesandtrafficcones
Summary: Tempers flare when decorating their first Christmas Tree.
Relationships: Metacrisis Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: 31 Days of Ficmas 2018 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1200850
Comments: 1
Kudos: 46
Collections: 31 Days of Ficmas 2018





	Stay With Me Beneath the Christmas Tree

Blindly reaching for the remote next to her, Rose turned up the volume on the telly. It was tuned to non-stop Christmas music, meant to get them in the festive spirit; all it was really doing was stressing her out, but was the lesser of two evils compared to the Doctor’s irritable muttering behind her.

It would be their first Christmas in their new house, his second in this universe, and she was determined to make it perfect. He’d been so impressed last year at how they’d gone all out decorating at the mansion, heaping Jackie with praise. When it came time to decorate their own place, she’d drawn up a battle plan to rival the splendor of Buckingham Palace or the Tyler Mansion.

He’d been all for that as well… until she woke him up early that morning and set him to work. At first he’d been fairly compliant (she wasn’t an idiot – she shagged his brains out before giving him the ‘honey-do’ list) but eventually the novelty had worn off.

They’d managed to get through all of the other rooms before the sighing started, leaving just their sitting room. This was the piece de resistance, the crowning glory, the Main Event, her pride and joy. It was also, quite possibly, the scene of the Doctor’s murder.

While she sat by the fireplace sorting ornaments for the tree, he was on the other side of the room trying to untangle the fairy lights she’d bought. He’d been grumbling and cursing over the strands for more than twenty minutes now, grating her last nerve for most of it.

“Doctor!” she finally snapped, half-turning to glare at him.

“What?” He looked up, scowl firmly in place even as his glasses slipped down his nose. The light strands were everywhere, a veritable minefield of glass as he worked on them.

She paused, staring at him, fury fading at his miserable expression. Shaking her head she sighed, shoulders slumping. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

“What?” He blinked owlishly at her, brow furrowing.

“Just… you can stop. Go do whatever you want. I’ll take care of it.” Turning back to the ornaments, she listened to the gentle tinkling of glass against itself and his careful footfalls.

“Rose-”

“It’s fine,” she cut him off, glaring down at the ornaments in front of her. “You don’t want to do it, so don’t. Just… just go.”

He didn’t move for several long heartbeats, but eventually his footsteps headed for the stairs. She waited until their bedroom door closed to bury her face in her hands and cry.

_So much for a magical Christmas._

* * *

When the tears finally stopped falling she wiped her face with the sleeve of her dressing gown, shutting off the cheerful music and plunging the room into silence. Abandoning the ornaments for the moment, she picked her way to where he’d been sitting surrounded by tangled lights.

It didn’t take her long to unknot them, just a little luck and a lot of patience, which just put her in a worse mood. If he’d only sat still and concentrated for a few minutes, he wouldn’t have had nearly the amount of trouble he did. Starting at the bottom she painstakingly threaded the lights through the branches, working her way around the enormous tree.

At some point she heard him come back down, but didn’t pay him any attention except to turn the music back on, too focused on what she was doing and too annoyed with him. The stepladder was only good for a few layers on the tree, and she cursed her height as she lugged out the full ladder and set it in position. Leaning away from to reach as much as possible before she had to move it again, the song changed from a quieter, more religious piece to a blaring rock song, startling her.

Rose yelped as she fell, trying to turn to land on her front only to be caught by the Doctor.

“I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” he promised, setting her on her feet but keeping his arms around her.

“Oh, God,” Rose panted, clutching at his shirt as she buried her fast in his chest, fear thundering through her. She had faced death hundreds of times, in a thousand different ways, but falling off a _ladder_ decorating her Christmas tree was not how she wanted to go.

The Doctor just held her, stroking her hair and whispering nonsense as she calmed. Finally she pulled back enough to see his face, worried eyes watching her carefully.

“Are you all right?” he murmured. “Were you hurt at all?”

Rose shook her head, forcing her fingers to relax their death grip on his now hopelessly-wrinkled shirt. “I’m okay. The music- it just startled me, is all.”

He nodded, stepping backwards while keeping hold of her, and she let him lead only a few steps before stopping. “No! I- the tree-”

“I’ll do it. I should have done it in the first place. Just… sit down, take a break. You’ve been going non-stop for hours.”

She let him settle her on the couch with a prime view of the tree, kissing her forehead and wrapping her in a blanket before returning to the ladder. Glancing around the room, she blinked in surprise. When she’d started with the lights nothing had been decorated, just boxes waiting to be opened and halls waiting to be decked.

Now the mantle was covered, garland with red ribbon serving as the backdrop to ceramic light-up houses and candles on stands, with the stockings they’d chosen together front and center. His stocking hanger was appropriately enough a silver star, while Rose’s was colorful snowman.

Sprigs of mistletoe hung over every doorway, more garland was strung between the sconces on the far wall. It was properly festive, good enough for a magazine spread, and her jaw dropped as she realized what had happened. “Did you do all this?”

The Doctor glanced over his shoulder, continuing to thread the lights. “Yeah. Obviously if you want to change anything feel free, but… you seemed to want to be left alone so I did. Glad I was in here; that would’ve been a nasty fall if I hadn’t been.”

“Stop.”

“What?”

“Stop what you’re doing,” Rose repeated, going over to the ladder and waiting for him to climb down, frowning. Once his feet were on the ground she wrapped her arms around his neck, tugging him down until their lips met in a passionate kiss. He responded enthusiastically, pulling her closer and plundering her mouth. “Thank you,” she whispered when they finally pulled apart to breath.

He nodded shortly. “I’m sorry. I…” he wrinkled his nose, staring over her head for a moment. “There’s a lot I don’t like about being human, about not having the TARDIS. I don’t like chores. I don’t like the obligations, or the routine, or…” Shaking his head, he started over. “I realized, when I was upstairs thinking-”

“Sulking?”

“Thinking,” he repeated, squeezing her, “that… this is it. This is real. And it’s not fair to expect you to do everything. That… part of being human, being here, is doing what needs doing whether you want to or not. You can’t just… wait a hundred years and hope it fixes itself. I’m here. With you. And I wouldn’t trade that for anything. So if that means putting up decorations just to take them down in four weeks, then I’ll do it if it makes you happy. Just, please try to have patience with me. It’s all new.”

Smiling, she tugged him down for another kiss. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped. I just had high expectations for this Christmas. It’s our first on our own, and I wanted it to be perfect. But it’s not if we’re not both happy, and doing it together. That’s what matters.”

They kissed languidly, holding each other for long minutes before the Doctor broke away long enough to whisper, “Does that mean I can stop with the lights?”

Rose howled with laughter.


End file.
